THE 
AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE 



BY 



LOUIS MARSHALL 



NEW YORK 
1909 



THE 
AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE 



BY 



LOUIS MARSHALL 

'I 



NEW YORK 
1909 



\fshsi 



THE AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE* 
BY Louis Marshall. 

The creation of the American Jewish Com- 
mittee was not the result of a deHberate purpose, 
or of anxiety on the part of those who par- 
ticipated in its formation, to assume the per- 
formance of the onerous duties which it has 
undertaken. It is a development growing out 
of the unique conditions of Jewry throughout 
the world. It is merely a phase in the evolution 
of Jewish consciousness and Jewish solidarity. 
The last word in that process has not been 
spoken, for Judaism will ever be subject to such 
varied influences, and to such a continuous 
shifting of dynamic forces, that crystalization 
is impossible. 

Fifty years ago Jewish conditions were ap- 
parently in a state of equilibrium, both here 
and abroad. The Jews were divided into a 
number of homogeneous groups, each distinct 
from the others, and each, at least externally, 
different from the others. There was practically 
no intercommunication, and they regarded one 
another, if not with suspicion, apparently 
without much sympathy. 

The Jews then in the United States were 

* An address before the twenty-first biennial convention of the 
Union of American Hebrew Congregations, January 20, 1909. 



comparatively few. They had migrated from 
the same region in Central Europe, and naturally 
tended in the same direction, and were, to a large 
degree, susceptible to and swayed by the same 
ideas. Hence it was to be expected, that when 
they came to organize and to create institutions, 
as they eventually did, it would be along lines of 
least resistance, and in such manner that the 
group to which the great mass belong, should be 
in the ascendancy, and give form and color to 
the organizations which came into being. 

So long as conditions remained practically 
unchanged, these organizations admirably ful- 
filled every requirement. The Union of Ameri- 
can Hebrew Congregations, with its Board of 
Delegates, represented the great majority of 
American Jews in the West, South and Middle 
West, and to a considerable, but lesser, extent, 
those of the East. In like manner, the Order of 
B'nai B'rith, included in its membership the 
flower of American Jewry, and its form, though 
that of a secret organization, was well adapted 
to meet the needs of the hour, and of that group 
of men, who recruited its ranks and to whom its 
ritual appealed. Both have exercised, and con- 
tinue to exercise, a potent influence for good; 
and it is fair to say that if conditions here and 
abroad had remained unchanged, the creation 
of other Jewish organizations would in all 
probability have never become necessary. 

4 



During the past twenty-four years, however, 
tremendous changes have occured. The status 
of the European Jew has been rendered most 
precarious. Persecution, of a character deemed 
impossible in this boasted era of civiHzation, has 
fallen with wild fury upon the Russian and Rou- 
manian Jew, has made his very life a burden and 
has subjected him to unspeakable misery, both 
physical and spiritual. The Galician Jew has 
become the victim of economic problems, which 
have been productive of poverty well-nigh in- 
conceivable. Morocco has witnessed a recrud- 
escense of mediaevalism ; while even in France 
and Germany, anti-Semitism, brutal and un-^ 
reasoning, has raised its horrid front, and for a 
time has been triumphant. 

As a natural consequence, the condition of 
the Jew in foreign lands has been characterized 
by unrest, terror, and untold suffering, and he 
has been compelled to look to his American 
brethren for aid, comfort and consolation. He 
has been forced to take up anew the staff of the 
wanderer, and to flee for refuge to the hospitable 
shores of America, there to seek that opportunity 
of living his own life, which has been denied to 
him in the land of his birth. 

The Jewish population of the United States 
has thus been increased from two hundred 
thousand, or thereabouts, in 1880, to upwards 
of one and a half million at the present time, 



two-thirds of which number represent the Jews 
dwelHng in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore 
and Boston. This great influex of Jewish popu- 
lation, to an overwhelming extent, represents 
groups which, prior to 1880, were practically- 
unknown in America. The infinitesimal per- 
centage of those who belonged to these groups, 
who had previously come to this country, were, 
after short periods of storm and stress, absorbed 
and assimilated by the then existing groups. 
This process, however, became impossible, or 
at least became indefinitely deferred, when the 
new migration set in, representing as it did an 
alien civilization, and customs and traditions 
to which the earlier Jewish immigrant was 
almost a stranger. 

It was but natural, therefore, that the newly 
arrived, viewing Judaism and life from another 
angle, formed their own congregations, their 
own social organizations, their own communities; 
that new movements were called into existence 
or stimulated by them; that unfamiliar insti- 
tutions were transplanted by them; that there 
was little or no intermingling between them and 
the earlier comers of the Jewish faith; that the 
two bodies stood aloof from one another and 
regarded each other askance, and that suspicion 
and lack of confidence, which are the offspring 
of an absence of thorough information and 
understanding, were prevalent among both 



groups, and unity of action, harmony, and the 
spirit of brotherhood, if not non-existent, were 
certainly but faintly perceptible. 

In the meantime, conditions abroad retro- 
graded from bad to worse. The pogroms of the 
Nineteenth Century, inhuman though they were, 
gave place to the diabolical massacres and the 
fiendish animosity of the Twentieth Century. 
The flaunting disregard by Russia of the Ameri- 
can passport, which in 1880 was negligible, 
became a monumental insult in igoS- Condi- 
tions in Roumania, which at the earher date were 
deplorable, gave rise to Secretary John Hay's 
memorable protest, based on his recognition of 
the effect of Roumanian barbarism upon our 
own country. 

Even here, in this free land new problems 
presented themselves— religious, social, economic 
and civic— which called for concerted action, in 
order to prevent the violation of the equal rights 
of Jews as citizens, and to obviate repressive 
measures calculated to shut the door of oppor- 
tunity in the faces of the harried refugees who 
sought that asylum which it had been the tra- 
ditional poHcy of this government to extend to 
the oppressed of all the world. 

It is to these causes, and to the need of con- 
stant intercommunication with European organ- 
izations, founded for like objects, and to the 
growth of a new diplomacy, that the American 



Jewish Committee owes its origin. As its con- 
stitution declares, its purpose is "to prevent 
infringement of the civil and religious rights of 
Jews, and to alleviate the consequences of perse- 
cution." 

That there have been and exist infringements 
of the civil and religious rights of Jews, actual 
and threatened, and that there are consequences 
of persecution to be alleviated, is universally- 
admitted. How best to prevent and to alleviate, 
is the question. If it had been practical for 
existing organizations to affiliate with themselves 
the six-fold greater mass of new-comers, and to 
have been recognized by them as their represen- 
tative organization, the problem would have 
solved itself. It would never have arisen. But 
instead of affiliating with the older organizations, 
the new-comers, as has been seen, formed their 
own organizations, which in turn would not 
affiliate with the older bodies. And since the 
more recently arrived element of the Jewish 
population in America felt more keenly than the 
older element, the consequences of foreign per- 
secution, and oft- threatened repressive measures, 
because they and theirs were directly affected, 
it was but natural that the former should have 
insisted upon the right to speak and to act, and 
to seek redress and relief from the grievances, 
which have weighed so heavily upon them. 

Hence it became the purpose of the American 



Jewish Committee to bring about co-operation 
among the various elements of American Jewry, 
by means of an organization which ignored geo- 
graphical origins, useless controversies and po- 
lemics, accidental groups, artificial formulas, and 
social stratification; and which recognized no 
tests except those which its name implies — those 
of Americanism and Judaism. 

This organization is actuated solely by 
feelings of friendship and sympathy toward 
every class of Jews, without regard to adjec- 
tives. It seeks no monopoly in the accomplish- 
ment of "Israel's work in America." Its mem- 
bers have striven to merge their identity, and 
to subordinate their personalities, for the 
attainment of results beneficial to all Jews alike. 
It has always been the desire of the Committee, 
to co-operate with other organizations seeking 
to reach the same goal, and to attain that mil- 
lennial state, when all men alike throughout 
the world, shall be accorded equal civil and 
religious rights, and when persecution, with all 
its train of horrors, shall be no more. 

It is believed that the motives of the mem- 
bers of the American Jewish Committee are now 
better understood than they were two years ago, 
when well-meaning men considered the new or- 
ganization as an intruder, a trespasser, and a 
pretender, desirous of supplanting and des- 
troying existing organizations. It was decried 



as self-constituted, by those who forgot that all 
existing organizations were equally self-con- 
stituted. It was believed to be bent upon 
arrogating to itself power and glory. It was 
regarded with suspicion, and motives were at- 
tributed to it, which are now conceded to be 
baseless. 

The American Jewish Committee has never 
seen fit to reply to these criticisms, except in so 
far as its acts have constituted a fitting answer. 
Though self-constituted, it has striven to de- 
mocratize itself, and hopes for a speedy real- 
ization of its expectations in that regard. It 
has labored to accomplish the objects for which 
it has been formed, by quiet, persistent, untiring, 
and continuous work, and by means of constant 
and thorough interchange of views among the 
members of its Executive Committee. Member- 
ship in that body is not any empty honor; it 
involves strenuous exertion, daily activity, and 
uninterrupted study of conditions. It calls for 
and receives the unremitting attention of every 
member of the Executive Committee, each mem- 
ber being kept in complete touch with every 
activity, and being expected to participate and 
actually participating therein. Stated meetings 
are held with great regularity. There every 
topic is carefully investigated and thoroughly 
discussed. Special meetings take place whenever 
emergencies arise. At the central bureau of the 

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Committee, an efficient secretary and a trained 
staff of assistants are always in attendance. 
They collate and give information, gather 
statistics, and keep the entire Committee fully 
advised, and when necessary, as has frequently 
occurred, the several members of the Com- 
mittee are called upon to render active service, 
to which calls ready and willing response has 
uniformly been given. The published reports 
give but a meagre idea of what the Committee 
has thus far actually done, the time not having 
arrived for adequate portrayal of the most im- 
portant of its efforts. When the final account 
is rendered, it is confidently believed that neither 
the Committee, nor Judaism, nor our country, 
will have cause for regret. 

The Committee has unquestionably encoun- 
tered difficulties, but it has been gratified by the 
attainment of substantial results ; and it indulges 
the hope, that the seed which it has sown will not 
prove fruitless. 

There has never been a moment since it 
embarked upon its undertaking, that it has been 
unwilling to co-operate with others having the 
same objects in view. That was its declaration 
when it came into existence. That has been its 
official announcement on repeated occasions. It 
gave evidence of the sincerity of its asseverations, 
by electing to its membership representatives of 
the more important of the existing Jewish organ- 



11 



izations, and included them in its Executive 
Committee. The fact that some of these repre- 
sentatives saw fit to withdraw from the Com- 
mittee, was the result of their own voluntary- 
action, and was the source of sincere regret to 
those who continued to perform the functions of 
the Committee. 

Disregarding all past occurrences, the Com- 
mittee is today as willing as it has ever been, 
to co-operate with any existing organization 
which desires to labor in the same field of 
activity, if a practical and workable plan can be 
presented, which will make co-operative action 
possible. Such a plan must, however, be one 
which will not be paralyzing in its operation; 
otherwise it is not practical or workable, because 
it would not only destroy the usefulness of the 
American Jewish Committee, but would equally 
deprive the existing organizations of whatever 
utility they now possess. 

It is not for me to suggest how the much 
desired result of unification of the Jewish forces, 
which really means their conservation and effec- 
tive utilization, can be best accomplished. My 
sole object in presenting these views is, to com- 
ply with the request of the Philadelphia Com- 
mittee of Arrangements, to present this paper, 
with the view of contributing to "a better mutual 
understanding and a clearer insight into our 
common aims." 

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Nothing that I have said must be construed 
as a criticism of any existing organization, or of 
any individual or class of individuals. Nothing 
is further removed from my mind, than the petty 
and undignified purpose of casting personal 
reflections. In the great work of Israel, there 
is enough for all to do. Every conscientious 
and consistent Jew is bound to contribute to it, 
the best that it is in him to give. The promotion 
of the cause of Judaism, is an aspiration looking 
to the ennoblement of the human race, and that 
cause will be best promoted, when all the 
brethren of the household of Israel shall * 'dwell 
together in unity." 



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